The following quotations are primarily related to the history of central banking, currency control, and financial power in the United States and give an insight how the very few very rich effectively control everything in society. Western democracy is an illusion, government policies are influenced by these very few super rich individuals.
1. Benjamin Franklin (1750s-1760s):
Describing the colonial script system before the Currency Act of 1764.
"In our colonies, we issue our own money. It is called Colonial script. We issue it in proper proportion to the demands of trade and industry to make the products pass easily from the producers to the consumers... In this manner, creating for ourselves our own paper money, we control its purchasing power, and we have no interest to pay."
2. Benjamin Franklin (After 1764):
Commenting on the impact of the Currency Act of 1764.
"The colonies would gladly have borne the little tax on tea and other matters had it not been that England took away from the colonies their money, which created unemployment and dissatisfaction."
3. Thomas Jefferson (Late 18th/Early 19th century):
Context: Warning about the potential dangers of private banks controlling currency.
"If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered."
4. John Adams (In a letter to Thomas Jefferson):
Discussing the financial challenges facing America.
"All the perplexities, confusion and distresses in America arise not from defects in the Constitution or Confederation, nor from want of honour or virtue, as much from downright ignorance of the nature of coin, credit, and circulation."
5. Montague Norman (1920-1944):
Governor of the Bank of England addressing U.S. bankers.
"Capital must protect itself in every way possible, both by combination and legislation. Debts must be collected, mortgages foreclosed as rapidly as possible. When through process of law, the common people lose their homes, they will become more docile and more easily governed through the strong arm of the government applied by a central power of wealth under leading financiers."
6. Mayer Amschel Rothschild (Late 18th/Early 19th century):
Context: Expressing the power of controlling a nation's money supply.
"Let me issue and control a nation's money and I care not who makes the laws."
7. Andrew Jackson (1830s):
Context: Opposing the renewal of the charter for the Second Bank of the United States.
"Gentlemen, I have had men watching you for a long time and I am convinced that you have used the funds of the bank to speculate in the breadstuffs of the country. When you won, you divided the profits amongst you, and when you lost, you charged it to the bank... You are a den of vipers and thieves. I intend to rout you out, and by the Eternal God, I will rout you out."
8. Abraham Lincoln (1860s):
During the Civil War, discussing his financial challenges.
"I have two great enemies, the Southern Army in front of me and the bankers in the rear. Of the two, the one at my rear is my greatest foe."
9. Woodrow Wilson (1919):
Reflecting on the creation of the Federal Reserve in 1913.
"I am a most unhappy man. I have unwittingly ruined my country. A great industrial nation is now controlled by its system of credit. We are no longer a government by free opinion, no longer a government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a government by the opinion and duress of a small group of dominant men."
10. Alan Greenspan (Late 20th/Early 21st century):
Context: Explaining the Federal Reserve's independence as its chairman.
"Well, first of all, the Federal Reserve is an independent agency, and that means basically that there is no other agency of government which can overrule actions that we take."